Rwanda’s mobile broadband is Africa’s first

By Michael Malakata

Little known by the outside world until genocide tore the country apart 15 years ago, Rwanda has become the first nation to launch a wireless broadbandI Internet facility in Africa.
Little known by the outside world until genocide tore the country apart 15 years ago, Rwanda has become the first nation to launch a wireless broadbandI Internet facility in Africa.
Unlike other countries in Africa, where mobile broadband Internet connection is restricted to a few buildings, Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, has become the first capital city in Africa broadly offering high-speed services, overtaking Nigeria and South Africa, Africa’s biggest telecom markets in terms of both investment and users.

The launch of the wireless facility means that Rwandese will now be able to surf the Internet anywhere and anytime in the capital city using their laptops.
The US$7.7 million wireless internet facility has been built by Korea Telecom, South Korea’s largest fixed line operator. Korea Telecom is a prominent South Korean integrated wired and wireless telecom service provider. The contract to build the wireless Internet facility was awarded to Korea Telecom in 2007 by the Rwandan government. The service is based on WiBro technology, the South Korean version of the mobile WiMax IEEE 802.16e specification, and will offer 5.5Mbps and 2Mbps connection speeds.

The launch of the wireless internet facility also marks the entry of wireless broadband technology in Africa. “By launching the wireless facility, Rwanda has become the ICT hub not just in east Africa but the whole Africa. Other countries must surely follow the footsteps of Rwanda,” said Mwape Mutale, CEO of the center for ICT development in Africa.
In addition to the wireless broadband internet facility, Korea Telecom is also constructing a US$40 million Kigali Metropolitan Network project. The Kigali Metropolitan Network project is based on on a fiber-optic loop and will be the largest computer network in Rwanda, providing connectivity for local area networks. The Rwandan government claims over 45 government institutions have already been connected to the high-speed Internet facility.

The Rwanda Metropolitan Network will be completed next year, according to Rwanda Development Board (RDB) deputy chief executive in charge of information technology Patrick Nyirishema. Rwanda’s vision is to promote and facilitate modern infrastructure development by 2020. In the next three years, the Rwandan government is aiming to provide access to high speed Internet to more than 4 million Rwandans through the wireless Internet facility and the Kigali Metropolitan Network project.

Until last year, Rwanda was also the first country in Africa to have a mobile phone assembling plant through a company called A-Link Technologies. Early this year, the world Bank provided $24 million to Rwanda for the provision of broadband connectivity and access to low-cost international connectivity through the connection to the undersea cables in east Africa

Courtesy of IDG News